got new planner boards how far back do you run your lines

Never used them before but got a great deal on a pair of planner boards. Not sure how far back you run your lines before attaching them to the cord ..also with season on top of us I have to go the cheap route and use shower rings with rubber bands.. I know nothing about this .. WHat size rubber bands do you use .. or any other metheod I can try...

If this is your first time with planer boards I would limit the lines to 75 feet on each side. When running them, you need to remember that your boat is now 158 feet wide, therefore you cannot turn very sharp. The longer the planer board lines, the larger the turning radius of your boat becomes while running them.

I would say you should use some smaller rubber bands than #64, because there are some smaller rock out there. You will drag them all day long with #64 rubber bands and when you do finally pull in the line, the small fish will look like a windsock. You might need a #64 with a large 12 inch sassy shad mojo or an umbrella, but I would go with the smallest rubber band that will still hold the line on the planer line.

Plan on spending 45 minutes to get your spread out AND back in, depending on how many rods you have, and plan accordingly.

You need to determine how many rods you will be running off of the boards. Three to five and 75ft is good. Keep in mind that your boards don't run at a ninety degree angle to your anchor point on the boat. Its closer to forty five so 75 ft of line is probably closer to 60ft off of your boat. Also where you plan on fishing and how crowded that area is can play a part. I would reccomend you get out before opening day, do a little PSCR and get used to the process. Once you get the hang of it you'll be fine. Word to the wise, use caution when handling the planer lines when there is a load on them. They can bruise and cut your hands if your not careful. If you can swing it buy the scotty clips and carabiners even if its only a few to start. Rubber bands and shower curtains work but the clips are adjustable and less hassle. Once you start using the clips you won't go back to the bands.

Where are you fishing out of? You might want to go out with someone first who uses boards and see how it is done or have someone go out with you on your boat. Most times I run three lines off each board. Let out 85 feet of line from reel then attach clip to planer line for the line closest to the board, next I run 60ft line from next reel and send it out on planer line, closest to boat I run 45ft line from reel and out planer line. When I first used boards I used #64 bands and shower curtain clips. Some times those bands would not break and then I started using #32 bands. Now I use the black Scotty clips. Good luck

I set out my lines on the planer boards the opposite of basshby. That is the closest to the planer board would have 30 to 45 feet of line out with a light weight lure like a double leadhead rig or single parachute that will run near the surface. The middle line would be 60 to 75 feet out with a little heavier lure. The board line closest to the boat would have 90 or more feet of line out with an even heavier rig that will run deeper yet. Then from the gunnel, if you have enough rod holders, you would run a 120 foot and a 150 or more foot line with your heavy lures like Mo Jo's or umbrella rigs. The idea is that the closer you are to the boat the heavier and deeper and further back your lures will be. Here is why I think that is better: if you hook up a fish on the board line furthest out it will be shallow and will likely pass over the top of the other lines as it is drawn toward dead astern of the boat. That is the same for the middle line too. Remember that this time of year the fish will be shallower rather than deeper so only a couple lines need to be real deep. Just my thoughts on it.

I always run a Mojo/ 3 way with Parachute deep right behind the boat. Then I work out the sides keeping the deeper rigs closest to the boat with shorter lines and get longer adn shallower on my way out to the boards. You don't need to go more than 100' off the planer lines unless you just like reeling and it helps keep tangles to a minimum too. Also I'll run a near surface lure WFB from a high rod holder, sometimes two at about 175' to as much as 250' depending on whats going on. If that is a big umbrella rig, you'll be sorry when you have to tug it in from 250' back! With this kind of spread I can run more lines than I own and rarely get tangles anymore even on sharp turns. If you get the stagger right, the lines cross adn uncrosss without any problem.

One more thing, If you run braided line, you better get pleny of distance between things until you figure it out! Braid makes for the nastiest tangles you have EVER seen! You'll be cutting a lot loose.

Stagger 'em off at 12 bars then 10 then 8 then 6 with three singles off the stern and if you're uisng two planner boards repeat on the opposite side so the entire formation forms a big W with the deepest being the longest. Rubber bands work great 'cause you can hear the snap when they break.

I have two sets of line 40' and 100'. Try a short line on one side and just run two lines off at first until you get the hang of it. Go during the week to avoid the crowds. I get all my tips from the gentlemen above. They always put fish in the boat.